The shadow of a mistake
by CrazyNutSquirrel
Summary: Shadow has a son, Mobians are pets or slaves, and only Shadow, his son, and some people who were assumed to be dead can save the world and return the rights of the oppressed. Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

**Author note: I do not know where I got the original idea for this story, but I know how I will write it, this story is for my friends, my family, everyone I know, everyone I don't know, and all the creatures of the world, abandoned or living a happy warm life, safe, with good food and drink. This is for the people who I know, and whom I may never know. And though we may not ever see each other, we are all kindred spirits. I think I watched a little too much of V for Vendetta, but I mean what I say. Think however you would like to about this story, I would prefer no flames, but I sincerely hope that you enjoy this fanfiction. **

Chapter 1

A young soldier stood nervously in front of a capsule, trying to screw up his courage to press the button that would open it. He worked for GUN, you would be able to tell from his uniform if you couldn't see the script spelling out the three letters boldly.

"You will be alright, he has helped us, and the President requested it." The man swallowed and pressed the green button with the red dot in the centre. Steam came from the capsule, and a black hedgehog sat up and stepped out. He looked at the soldier with crimson eyes. Then nodded, and skated off down the hallway.

When he had been put in the capsule to recover from a mission against Eggman, who had gotten stronger and more serious, his robots no longer bore a comical resemblance to him, they were weapons of destruction, Shadow had barely managed to destroy the factory creating them before he collapsed from the wounds he had sustained, the others had gone to defeat Eggman. "Where are they I wonder? Especially Shadi." Shadi was the son that Rouge had born him, they had married, and Shadi was one of the two things in the whole world that could make Shadow happy, besides Rouge, she had become a little less flirtatious, but she was still the same in all other respects.

Shadow knocked on the door to the President's office. "Come in." Shadow pushed the door open, then put a hand on tilt so that it seemed to be trying to connect to one of the angles that was part of the chest fur he had, and he bowed. "Sir." "Ah Shadow." The President's face was sad and care-worn. "What is it?" Asked Shadow.

"I wish it wasn't my duty to tell you this Shadow but... all your friends..." "What happened?" "They're dead, they succeeded in destroying Eggman and his last base though. Your son has been crying ever since he saw the explosion, he has been waiting for you." The President pressed a button, a hidden door opened and a man escorted the little black hedgehog with the yellow eyes and white diamond symbol on his forehead in, "Daddy!" Shadi ran forward and hugged Shadow's knees. Shadow patted his head, even though he was struggling not to cry over the news he had just heard, he smiled and picked his son up, Shadi promptly buried his face in Shadow's shoulder.

"There is another thing Shadow, that I am sorry to tell you about." "Which is...?" "I am not going to be President for long. A young man is running for the position and he is going to get it, he has convinced the people that Mobians can only be pets, either that or slaves. The people have had their minds twisted by him. They agree and Mobians shall be pets, I only managed to make a law that would protect you, your son, and one other of your choice from this cruel mistake."

The President looked Shadow fully in the eye. "Who do you choose?" The other heroes had had no children, Amy had been expecting for Sonic, but she was dead now, so was the child. There was no one else. "I have no one else in mind at the moment sir." The President nodded. "You are free to choose someone at any time then, you still have the rights you did before, and because of being a GUN soldier.. that also protects you from Charles Dantes' mistake." "Dantes?" "He re-named himself, he didn't like his original name, Justin Kintabor. You have a mansion Shadow, you will have anything you want or need to buy paid for by the government, this is an unbreakable law, whether Justin likes it or not. I'm sorry this had to happen Shadow. I am terribly sorry."

Shadow nodded, "Your motorcycle is outside. Good bye Shadow. You have all my good wishes." Shadow nodded again and carried Shadi out, before the door closed however Shadi called, "Good bye Mister President!" Waving, the President waved back.

**Author note: Not a very nice awakening for Shadow is it? The next chapter shall be longer I hope. Standard disclaimers apply. Disclaimer is sick at the moment and can't give them, if you want to submit a fancharacter, you may, I will wait. Have a good day and may you have a happy life whoever you are. **


	2. Sorry

**This chapter is only an author note, to inform you of a devastating thing that happened.**

**Authoress: Hi.... uh...**

**Shade: Just tell them already!**

**Crazy: Yes, get on with it! It can only hurt you once, if it hurts you at all that is.**

**Authoress: Alright alright! Well you see... um... my Mom went onto my computer and decided that all my FF stuff was junk and DELETED IT ALL. --.-- That included future stories, chapters I had written and was going to post.... the lot! That includes descriptions of my characters and yours. So... I'm really sorry. :( Really, that puts a major setback on my writing, and I haven't been able to do much of that because of my Mom making me do tons of schoolwork. Which, I can assure you, is not fun, I'd rather be writing the stories you like. She didn't delete anything in my account, she can't get in there thank God. So... I leave this chapter to Crazy the squirrel who has decided that she and Shade can give you a little entertainment to counteract this sad news.**

**Crazy: Finally she finished, "They might hate me!" "I can't tell them!", huh. Yeah right. She sure TALKED a lot when it came to it. Sheesh.**

**Shade: If she was at the computer you'd be in deep trouble you know.**

**Crazy: Yeah, I know. But is she?**

**Shade: No.**

**Crazy: And that means we can cause little catastrophes and she won't know!**

**Shade: I think you made a spelling error.**

**Crazy: Really? Who cares. Let's continue.**

**Shade: *looks at sky* God give me patience... please...**

**Crazy: Hello all you lucky folks! You're two gorgeous hostesses...**

**Shade: Oh God... someone please say she isn't saying this...**

**Crazy:... are Crazy the Squirrel and Shade the hedgehog. I mean, Crazy the exalted favorite of the authoress and Shade, Princess of the northern contenentis.**

**Shade: Continentis? Where the heck did you get that? And you, CrazyNutSquirrel's favorite? Give me a break. I was her first OC.**

**Crazy: Shhh! They aren't supposed to know that!**

**Shade: Well they do now. Or if they don't they will in just a second. *climbs up tall tower and grabs megaphone* PEOPLE, CRAZY THE SQUIRREL WAS NOT CRAZYNUTSQUIRREL'S FIRST OC, SHADE THE HEDGEHOG WAS.**

**Crazy: No no no! All my dreams of stardom ruined.**

**Authoress: *wide eyed* What the heck did you two do? This room is a mess! Why is a tower growing up through the ceiling?!**

**Crazy: Uh oh....**

**Shade: ... Busted.**

**Authoress: OUT!!! **

**Crazy and Shade: *run out with arms over heads***

**Authoress: *sigh* Oh boy... yeah, so if you guys would please e-mail me your characters descriptions and anything you want to happen in the next chapter, as well as whether or not you want me to skip to Secondary school already. Thanks, sorry for the trouble, and I really should have hidden my FF stuff inside bunches of files instead of leaving it just on the desktop. . .**

**Charmy: HELLO! I'M CHARMY!**

**Authoress: THAT'S IT! *grabs flyswatter***

**Charmy: WHAT DID I DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......?!**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Shadi quietly snuck down the stairs, the air boosters in his shoes (which he had inherited from his father) helped him to be quiet. He slowly crept into the living room, which was dark, he could hear breathing, and knew it was his father. Grinning mischievously he slid over to the light switch and turned it on in a quick movement. Shadow sat bolt upright. Eyes wide.

Shadi couldn't help it, he burst into laughter. Shadow's eyes narrowed on him, "Think that's funny do you?" "Oh yes Dad! You should have seen the look on your face...!" Shadow frowned, "You know what's going to happen." "It isn't." Said Shadi, grinning sweetly at Shadow. "Oh? Why?" "Because it's my birthday! You can't do a thing to me on my birthday." "Hmmmm...... that's true, but that reserves punishment for tomorrow." "Oh come on Dad! Be a sport!" Shadi's eyes were pleading. Shadow smiled, "Alright." "Thanks Dad!" Shadi rushed to the dining room ahead of him. Shadow's smile faded a little as his eyes passed over a picture of Rouge, himself, and Shadi that was on the mantle piece of the fireplace. "What would you think of your son if you saw him now Rouge?" He murmured before following Shadi.

"So what did you get me?" Asked Shadi, bouncing ahead of Shadow as they walked to the Heroes park, an abandoned area. Shadow smirked, "Not telling." "Oh come on!" Shadow wouldn't tell. When they reached the park they laid some flowers at the base of the statues. There were ones for each of Sonic's friends, and Sonic. As soon as that was done though....... "What did you get me?" "Shadi!" "What?!" Shadow looked at him for a moment then shook his head, "I guess there is no use keeping you in suspense." "Yeah! I agree!" Said Shadi enthusiastically. Shadow eyed him then shook his head again, handing Shadi a box.

Shadi tore off the top in excitement.. and reverently lifted out two silver inhibitor rings. "Why you want your power kept in check I don't know, but seeing as you wanted inhibitor rings I looked around the ARK and found these." Shadi was hardly listening, he was slipping them on over his gloves. As they clicked into place a dozen different shots rang out at once. Shadow whirled, five of the bullets missed him, the sixth hit his shoulder.

"Dad!" Called Shadi, stepping forward in concern. "Run Shadi!" But before Shadi could obey someone grabbed him from behind, Shadow saw this, "Shadi!" But before he could move a bullet whistled into his leg, he fell. Shadi saw it as if in slow motion. "DAD!" But Shadow lay on the ground, face in a grimace of pain. One of the soldiers crouched and checked Shadow's pulse, "He's still alive, call an ambulence, you know what to say." Five men stayed behind while the others muffled Shadi's screams and hauled him into a truck.

He sat in a daze, it was his birthday, he had been told nothing could happen to him that wasn't to his liking on his birthday, and yet something had. And he was only fourteen years old. He buried his face in his hands as the truck rumbled into motion.

**Authoress note: Poor poor Shadi. *bursts into tears***

**Disclaimer: *whips out umbrella to keep himself dry* That's torn it, now I'LL have to upload this!**

**Authoress: I had planned this all out before but I still find it so sad! *blows nose in handkerchief***

**Shadow: *gingerly pats authoress's back* You also planned what happened next Crazy.**

**Authoress: Which involves you disappearing and being kept prisoner in a GUN prison fortress and Shadi being made a PET.**

**Disclaimer: *wide eyed* Oh god..... no wonder you're in tears. Can I borrow the edge of that handkerchief?**

**Authoress: For what?**

**Disclaimer: For chewing. I chew handkerchiefs when I'm sad or nervous.**

**Authoress: WHAT?!**

**Shadow: You, Disclaimer, are in trouble. You know that right?**

**Disclaimer: Yes.**

**Shadow: Then why aren't you running from Crazy yet?**

**Disclaimer: Oh yeah...... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! *runs away frantically***


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Shadi had no idea when he had fallen asleep, and he was only half-conscious when they took him out of the truck. They were in a white corridor when he finally regained total consciousness, he started struggling.

"Stop it you little runt!" Growled one, "You killed him..." murmured Shadi, blood starting to make his eyes crimson, "He isn't dead! Look, we'll show you." They trooped into a side room and flicked on a TV, there stood a news reporter, "The hero Shadow the Hedgehog, also the only Mobian to escape President Dantes' Mobian pet act, was attacked earlier today by people disguised as GUN agents..."

"Disguised my foot. We ARE GUN agents." "... And the public was shocked even further when it was found out that the fake GUN agents abducted Shadow's only chlid, Shadi the Hedgehog. He has a white diamond mark on his forehead, if anyone finds him, the President has asked them to please return him." The two soldiers started laughing uproarously as the camera was suddenly showing doctors working on Shadow. "So the men we left behind beat him up a little more did they?"

"It seems so." They continued laughing cruelly. Shadi's eyes were wide, and tears lurked, but could not spill. "Father...." The men were not aware of the rush of cold air from behind, they were too focused on the injured Shadow on the screen. Shadi stood up slowly. "Vengeance..." They didn't even hear that. If Shadi had been in his right state of mind he would have wondered if they were deaf. But the emerald on his forehead was not just a mark as everyone thought, it was real, it was flat, but still an emerald. It had fused itself to him at the moment of his birth, it had been seaking a person who could use it, and he had been the one.

His fur was red, his fangs had grown, his eyes were completely white, he was taller. A low rumble filled the room, the men turned, puzzled, and screamed at what they saw. The white emerald glowed with a blinding light on his forehead. "No... no..." they whimpered as the monster seemed to get taller, it stepped closer. "Vengeance! Blood calls for blood.... the blood of my father demands that yours is spilled..." "Please! Spare us!" The Monster Shadi smiled cruelly, "You didn't give him much mercy did you? The time has come to reap what you've sown!" A dart flew out of a hidden contraption and thudded into Shadi's arm. He didn't even notice.

His claws flew out, once, twice, a scream for each swipe, then all was silent. Shadi returned to his normal form, saw the dart in his arm, "Damn it." was all he was able to say before he fell unconscious again. He lay there in a pool of his victims blood as soldiers entered the room and placed him in a box, then they hurried him away to the President's office.

Justin Kintabor, these days known as Charles Dantes, looked at Shadi with a cruel smile on his face. "So... we have the son, we can use him as bait for the father." The soldiers laughed. All the GUN soldiers who had worked with Shadow had been fired, except Agent Topaz, who Justin had taken a liking to. Topaz had married, but was a widow, with her eldest son escorting her almost everywhere. She had two younger children too, but they were irrelevant.

Shadi's face was positioned in a slight grimace of pain, which was just how Charles liked to see his victims. "First of all we remove this mark." They tried shaving it off, (careful not to remove anything else) but that didn't work, they couldn't understand why. It felt like normal fur, but it would not cut. "We'll use something else on it then." Charles had a negative emerald that he had found years ago, he pushed it to the emerald on Shadi's head. There was a flash, and it disappeared into his head, making the fur where the emerald had shown it's presence a moment before as black as the rest of Shadi's fur.

"Good. Take him to the pound." The soldiers grinned. "Yes sir." They marched off to put Shadi in a stasis box which would sap his powers to almost nothing. "Next comes you Shadow the Hedgehog. I shall make sure that no Mobian walks this planet freely ever again. Humans are superior, they are not equal to rodents that walk around on two legs."

***

Shadow lay in the bed he had been alloted to, looking at the hospital ceiling. He hadn't said anything since he woke yelling for Shadi, he had had the memory replay in his head of how Shadi was stolen from him. He closed his eyes. _No.... _anyone watching him would have seen a tear trickle from under his eyelid. _Once again I've lost someone close to me. Am I cursed to endure hardship after hardship? _"Damn it!" He slammed his fist into the wall close by, it was the fist on the arm that had been shot, he didn't feel the burning pain, all that was in his head was one thought: _I vowed to protect Shadi and I failed him! I failed him... only because of two bullets. Pathetic. I'd never have fallen to two bullets when Rou... _He gave a strangled sob. No, he wouldn't have fallen to two bullets when Rouge was around.

She had always given him strength and resilience he didn't have without her. When he first met her he'd seen her as only some sort of annoyance. But he'd found that he needed her more and more. At first he'd been afraid of his feelings for her, trying to avoid her. But she confronted him and his feelings poured out of him without his intending it to happen. They had kissed, and then.... _Marriage. We married, had Shadi, and then.... _Tears poured silently from Shadow's eyes as he sat in his bed. And then Rouge had died. Shadi didn't even have a clear memory of her now.

_If he's still alive. _Shadow's eyes opened, into a frown he had not worn in years. The frown he had worn most of the time when Sonic's gang first met him. He stood, the pain in his leg was nonexistent to him. A purpose drove him. He walked past the startled nurses who were looking at the hole in his leg and arm. He stalked past the doctors who dropped their clipboards and opened and closed their mouths like fish out of water.

Shadow reached his mansion and waved away the maids who were worried about his injuries. "Can you please bring me my phone?" He sat down in the living room, staring at the picture of himself Rouge and Shadi. It was brought to him. He quickly dialed a number, "Darius, would you please gather all my fellow agents and bring them here?"

***

"When do you think he'll wake up?" "No idea, we shouldn't wake him, not if they did what they said to him." "You mean the steam rack?" Shadi detected a shiver from the speaker. "Yes." "That had to be terrible. But I don't see any steam marks on him." "I don't either but you know that some of us are quick healers."

"Yeah but THAT quick? I don't believe it." Shadi opened his eyes, his forehead felt funny, he felt it and gasped with shock, he didn't feel the reassuring positive from his emerald, he felt an evil presence, negativity, eagerly sending pain lancing into his hand. He grimaced. "He's awake!" He looked up to see that he was propped against a wall. In front of him were four young animals, two where hawks, the female one had traces of swallow in her too, the third was a red echidna with purple ringlets on his dreadlocks, and the fourth was a yellow hedgehog with dark brown eyes.

"What's your name?" They demanded. "Shadi..." They started laughing. "Shadi? Oh that's a good one. We wouldn't ever find Shadi here. Don't you know what the old president did for him and his Dad, Shadow the Hedgehog?" "My father, SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG, is in the hospital." Said Shadi quietly. They looked like they still didn't believe the part were Shadow was Shadi's father, but they were interested in why he was in the hospital.

Shadi relayed his whole life to them, all the way up to his capture. Their eyes were wide, "We believe you." They said, the echidna said, "I can't believe they managed to do it!" "They outnumbered him." Mumbled Shadow, eyes turned down. "You know, there is a kid here from another dimension, he's Shadow's kid from that world. Well... one of them." A black hedgehog with a white symbol (_My fathers symbol! _realized Shadi with a jolt) on his forehead was pushed forward. He looked uncomfortable. "I'm Timothy." "I'm Shadi."

"Tell him why you were born." The others pushed Timothy, "My Mom well.. she kind of forced me onto him." He said, eyes downcast. "She raped his Dad." Said a black cat. Shadi's eyes became wide, "Who did?" "Rose. My Dad married Rouge." Shadi made a little noise. "What's wrong?" "My Mom is named Rouge." "Is she with your Dad?" Asked Timothy. Shadi finally cried. Everyone stepped back a little to give him room, "No, she's.... she's dead." Said Shadi as well as he could through his tears. "Oh, I'm... I'm sorry."

Shadi felt warm, thin arms around him. Timothy was hugging him. "Why are you hugging me?" "You are technically my brother. You can call me Tim for short." "Oh... okay." The grey hawk said, "Timothy and Rock are the only ones who remember who their parents are. They couldn't wipe the memory out of their heads. Same with you too then. Either that or they wanted you to suffer more."

Shadi grimaced, "I think it's the later." "Hey! No talking in there!" A disgusting voice sounded over their cage. They looked up. An extremely obese man stood on the top of the cage, glaring down at them with one eye. "Quiet or you all get the steam rack." As soon as he was gone, the echidna, Rock, said one last thing. "All of us who don't get picked to be taken by a family.... we all get the steam rack." Shadi swallowed. The negative black emerald on his forehead hurt him, there was a painful throbbing behind his eyes. But Shadow had taught him to ignore pain, because if you were in pain during a battle and it distracted you you could die.

So Shadi ignored it. Where his heart was a gentle, soothing feeling was. He touched the area. A flash. The white emerald appeared on his chest. He stared at it. Good and evil now were both on his body. And he was literally caught in the middle. He sighed and leaned back. Timothy was shivering with the cold draft that whistled around the pound. Shadi drew him close and willed the white emerald to send warmth into Timothy's body while he slept.

Then he looked up at the moon that showed through the window high on the wall. Would he ever be free again?

**Authoress note: This is awesome I think. :D If you are wondering which story Timothy is from, it's from my story Demon Dance. He hasn't been named yet, but he is in there. Merry Christmas!**

**Disclaimer: *has santa hat on, waves half heartedly* Ho ho ho?**

**Authoress: Oh shut up, you sound like a duck being trodden on.**

**Disclaimer: It's not my fault. I don't know what Santa does! I've never been read a Christmas story!**

**Authoress: *cheery grin* Which is hardly my fault. There is a library twenty minutes from here. How about you go?**

**Disclaimer: I don't like walking!**

**Authoress: Tough luck.**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Shadi woke up and found that Rock was on his other side leaning against the cage, head turned towards the window. Shadi tried to reposition himself so he sat up straighter, and found that Timothy had moved around in his sleep and so had ended up with his head on Shadi's lap. Shadi looked at Timothy's face, it looked peaceful in sleep, but with traces of hardship. _I feel sorry for him, he's probably gone through things I could only dream of. _Shadi stood up, carefully laying Timothy down. Timothy stirred and murmured a little noise of distress. Shadi thought for a moment then took his father's letter jacket (he had somehow managed to teleport it there) and put it on Timothy, using some of the white emerald's power to put warmth into it.

Timothy rolled over and continued sleeping. Shadi walked over to the side of the cage that faced the window and looked up at it, arms crossed. "You and I are probably going to be well acquainted before I leave here... if I do." A soft laugh came from above him, he looked up, there was the obese man from earlier! He tensed, "You don't need to fear. I know who you are." Shadi relaxed. "I listened to your story. I feel rather ashamed of myself, but I don't want to die. If I stopped doing the things I have done then the President would send GUN soldiers here to have me killed. Your companions don't know it, but I turn up the heat every night."

Shadi stared at him, not trusting him. "You don't have to trust me. Here." He opened the door and lowered something in, it landed with a gentle rattle near him. "If they ask how you got it just say you have your ways." Then the man was gone. Shadi looked inside. There was a lightly simmering stew inside. His eyes grew wide. he ducked as a basket with bowls and spoons in it fell beside him. He caught it before it hit the floor. "Thanks." He whispered. He looked at the moon, all of a sudden he didn't feel quite so lonely anymore.

***

In the room with Shadow were eight men, he couldn't call them by their real names, Darius wasn't even "Darius'" name. "So that's what happened?" Said the second one from the far left, he was being called One. "Yes." Said Shadow tiredly. "Fake GUN soldiers my foot, what a load of baloney." Exclaimed three, looking at the replay footage in front of her. Two leaned over her shoulder, "You're right, those are things that no one except GUN could get."

"Yeah but those news reporters are as dumb as clay." Said Four. "True." Said Seven. "So what do you want us to do Shadow?" Asked Five. "I want you guys to see if your contacts can locate Shadi. Curse Dantes, he engineered the whole thing I know it! He must have!" "If he did then he has most likely disguised Shadi's emerald or replaced it." Shadow's head whipped around to look at Six, "What do you mean by "replaced"?" "He had a negative emerald in his desk when he fired me, he might have used it on Shadi." Shadow moaned. "If he's done that..." "Then Shadi is a danger to whoever he is around."

"He's already been a danger." Said Darius. All in the room looked at him. "What do you mean?" Asked Two. "Look at this." Darius had been hacking into the GUN camera's and showed them the footage of Shadi destroying the two unfortunate soldiers. "And he didn't have the negative emerald on him then?" Asked Three incredulously. "That's right. He had his pure one. And look at this." Shadow watched the President push the negative emerald into his son's head. He growled, he HATED the President.

Suddenly, the computer and all the lights switched off, they could hear the maids screaming, they hadn't expected that. Shadow immediately got an idea of what was going on though, "Guys you had better leave. Quickly." Eight hidden grates were opened and all eight of Shadow's informants disappeared into them before the walls became the same. Shadow took an iPod and started listening to Hello Tomorrow by Zebrahead, the iPod was Shadi's, he knew that Hello Tomorrow was Shadi's favorite song.

He couldn't break down, he had to look like he was unaware of the power outage when they came. He listened to the lyrics.

_Hello tomorrow and good-bye to yesterday_

_We've been waiting for this moment_

_And we still don't know what to say_

_We may never find the answers_

_or know the reason why_

_Why we both decided we should say good-bye_

_Nothing but good things are coming my way_

_If you are going please let me stay_

_You bring me down when I'm getting high_

_You turn me on / I amplify_

_1-2-3 times you've broken me (Broken Me)_

_1-2-3 ... 1-2-3_

_I won't bleed like this forever_

_I'm down to ride but my wings are severed_

_Blindside blitz- evacuation_

_I'm stuck in hell your on vacation_

_1-2-3 times you've broken me (Broken Me)_

_1-2-3 .. 1-2-3_

_(Chorus)_

_I've been waiting_

_Waiting for the day_

_I've been waiting_

_Waiting for the day_

_I'm still waiting for tomorrow_

_Tired of living in yesterday_

_I've been waiting_

_Waiting for the day I'd be over you_

_Oceans, devotions, these notions run dry_

_Floating away and I don't know why_

_Spend all my days in a bottle thinking_

_You're like an anchor got me sinking_

_1-2-3 times you've broken me (Broken Me)_

_1-2-3 .. 1-2-3_

_Say good-bye now and mean it forever_

_Got to move on and keep it together_

_Forget the things that you've said and you've done_

_That's in the past, here comes the sun_

_1-2-3 times you've broken me (Broken Me)_

_(Repeat Chorus)_

_Hello tomorrow and good-bye to yesterday_

_We've been waiting for this moment_

_And we still don't know what to say_

_We may never find the answers_

_or know the reason why_

_Why we both decided we should say good-bye_

_(Repeat Chorus)_

_Hello tomorrow_

_1-2-3_

_I'd be over you (hello tomorrow)_

_1-2-3_

_I'd be over you_

Shadow felt a little surprised by the lyrics, had Shadi had a crush at some point and not told him about it? Now that he thought of it he realized that Shadi had been a little quiet for a month two years previously. Before he could think more about this the living room door was busted down. The iPod had turned itself off, he swiftly hid it in his quills before the intruders grabbed him, a cloth with a sickeningly sweet sent was put over his nose, he struggled, but had to breath. _Damn it, some kind of knock out formula. _He passed out.

***

Shadi was lightly dozing beside the pot when everyone else woke up. He woke up the instant he heard their sleepy voices murmuring good morning to each other. He opened his eyes and smiled a little as he saw some little children who had been asleep when he'd come stare at him wide eyed. One little mongoose approached him, "Mister, are you an angel?" He asked. "No, I'm just like you." "You mean you're gonna be a pet too?"

Shadi's heart gave a painful throb. "Yes. At least, for now. I'll find a way to free you all." "That's impossible that is, don't you know about the Mobian pet act?" "Yes, but my father and I escaped it, at least, I HAD, until now." The little mongoose cut him off, "I believe you Mister Angel!" Shadi smiled a little. "Are you hungry?" The little children were the only ones awake so far, but their voices were starting to wake up the others, they were stirring. "Yes please Mister Angel!" Said the mongoose excitedly, he passed out bowls to the children and filled them. They dug in hungrily. The older children woke up and saw the pot. "Where did this come from?" "How did you get it?" "I have my ways." "Well whatever ways they are they're amazing!"

Shadi watched all of them eat, some of the children were painfully thin and he could see their bones. The young mongoose suddenly came over and sat himself right between Shadi and Timothy, he'd learned they were brothers. Timothy looked at him, "Who are you sir?" "I am Horus. And I'm your brother." He said officiously. Some of the older children laughed, Shaid ruffled Horus's orange hair. "Of course you are." "Mister Angel, do you remember your Mama and Papa?"

There was silence. Shadi's eyes looked vacant for a moment for a moment then he said, "I remember my Dad, I've lived with him all my life, my Mom is dead." Horus now clambered into Shadi's lap. "I don't remember either of my parents, they're both dead, you and Tim be my parents eh?" Timothy and Shadi smiled at each other before replying, "We'll try." "Well I like you already." Said Horus, hugging each of them.

A bell rang. Some of the older children shivered. "Now none of us are allowed to talk to unless spoken to." "What do you mean?" "Once every two weeks people are let in to choose pets." "So we might be given to any rich snob?" Asked Shadi incredulously. "Yup. And what's worse is that our obese keeper walks over the cages and tells them when each of us arrived, as if we're produce."

"We are. There isn't any other word to describe us." Sighed the grey hawk, who's name was Skald. "No it isn't,

the correct word is slave." Said his sister, Sauna. The children remained quiet as goggle eyed rich people walked past, some middle class people walked through too, looking at them, but they were like the rich people, they didn't see them as anything more then mindless things.

_They've forgotten Sonic and my mother and all of their friends. _Realized Shadi as he watched them. "Oh yeah, the President had the memories of them wiped away." "You mean he brainwashed them?!" Asked Shadi in a horrified whisper. "Oh yeah." They had to fall silent again as another family approached. This one looked like they were some sort of nobles. The eldest looked like he was nineteen, they realized he was the older brother, the two little children, a boy and a girl, were the younger children. _I wonder where their mother is? _

thought Shadi as he looked at them. "Can we PLEASE choose Eric? You never let us choose anything!" "Oh alright. I'll be talking to the manager."

Eric walked off and the younger children came really close to the cage, they quickly fished some packets out of their pockets. "Here you poor creatures!" Said the girl. They were packages of shortbread. "We're sorry we don't have enough for all of you." Said the boy. Rock looked at them, "But...." "We aren't washbrained." Said the

boy, "You mean brainwashed." Said the girl, "Oh yeah, that." "Eric said we can choose six of you." Shadi, Sauna, Skald, Horus, Timothy, and Rock found themselves pushed forward by the others, "You guys go. We'll be fine." The two little children called to Eric before the six could protest. "Eric! We've chosen!" Eric came over, "Those?" He frowned a little, _Why is he reminding me of Dad...? Oh no wait, the frown. THAT'S it. _"Oh all right. We'll have these six manager." The manager nodded, winking at Shadi as he did so. "What was that?" Asked Eric, seeing the wink. "Something got in my eye sir." Said the manager smoothly.

"A little too smoothly." Muttered Skald under his breath, looking at Shadi. Then Eric asked, "Will the female be able to mate?" "Yes sir." Sauna almost made little noises of rage. Timothy quickly grabbed her wrist and tightened his grip warningly. She relaxed. "Alright. We'll buy them." "I'll just chain them sir, they are a little wild, all except the small one that is." "Why are they wild?" Asked Eric, apprehension on his face, "Oh no sir! I didn't mean wild like that! I just meant that they might fight a little before they resign themselves to their fates. The small one won't." And indeed, the boy and the girl were playing with Horus already.

Shadi felt sad looking at Horus as a collar was clipped onto him. The little mongoose looked puzzled and pulled at it at first, then realized what it was and looked to be on the verge of tears. Shadi ignored the manager putting the collar on him, he picked up Horus and whispered, "It's okay, I'll get us out of this." Horus hugged his neck as best he could. Shadi swallowed, and his throat scraped painfully against the collar, he winced. "Oh, too tight." He loosened it. Shadi swallowed again, "Better?" Shadi nodded. "Why are you talking to him?" Asked Eric, "I can't have his throat rubbed raw, would ruin my business's reputation."

Eric nodded, satisfied. The children looked greatly upset by the collars. "But Eric! They don't need collars! They're nice!" Eric frowned, "Just like the neighbors didn't put collars to attach chains to on their dogs? If I remember correctly, they attacked you. You were toddlers." "Yeah but Shadow saved us." Shadi's head whipped up. No one noticed except Horus, who was in his arms. "Shadow is injured and in the hospital right now." "No he isn't!" "Oh really?" "He walked right out, with a hole in his arm and his leg!" Said the boy, looking excited. "Fred!" So the boys name was Fred. "Don't attack Fred Eric. It's true, it was on the news before we left. You just didn't pay attention."

"Hmm... I'm sorry Fred." Eric's face looked warm as he hugged his little brother. Shadi looked away. Shadow had given him many hugs, some asked for some not, he missed the warmth of his father's arms, and being able to listen to the steady beating of his father's heart. Horus leaned into Shadi whispering sleepily, "Don't worry Mister Angel, I'll take care of you." Shadi almost chuckled at that, he repositioned Horus in his arms so he'd be more comfortable.

"Let's go." "Do you want leashes sir?" "Yes thank you." Leashes were clipped onto the collars. Sauna's expression was stormy while her brother's was serene. Eric took the leashes, but seeing Horus curled up in Shadi's arms, he told the manager to leave Horus without a leash.

***

"They were in a car..." Darius repeated the story of what he had seen for the fifteenth time to his audience of One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven. "Who with?" "Topaz's kids." "I feel sorry for Topaz." "You should feel sorry for her eldest son Eric too. He's been forced to grow up too fast poor boy." Said Five.

"That is beside the point. Shadi was in that car." It was as if his five companions didn't exist. Thought a figure hidden high in one of the hidden air ducts. "Shadi? How could you tell? His mark was removed by Dantes." "Yes, but it had re-appeared, right over his heart." There was a bit of commotion over that, but nothing major. _Blundering idiots. And does that girl have to wear so much perfume? _The figure's attention went back to the person talking, Darius. "So we will have to either break into Topaz's or have someone break in for us, someone who won't tell who they were employed by."

"But what about Shadow?" "Probably went for a run around the globe to locate Shadi." _How wrong you are, idiot. _"Who would we be able to employ?" "No one....." Before Darius could continue, Six's heat scanner had picked up their watcher, "We'll employ the person in the wall." Six tore the air duct cover off and grabbed their watcher by the neck, it was a female black hedgehog with a curious mark on her right hand. "Who are you?" "Doesn't concern you bottle nose." Darius frowned, "Bottle nose? Is that the best you can do?" "No it isn't snot eyes." "Yuck!" Darius glared at Three.

The hedgehog was about to continue with her insults when Darius held a gun against her forehead. "Who are you?" "I'm not afraid of death. I've died before." "I don't think you will be so unafraid of death when your skull gets blasted." The hedgehog looked at him calmly. "Do your worst. Your very worst. I'm not afraid of you." "No? Then are you afraid of.... losing your identity." Darius put away the gun and pulled out another contraption, it looked just like a gun, but with different settings and and on/off switch.

A flicker of fear was briefly seen in the hedgehog's eyes. "Ah yes. You ARE afraid of something." "I will not tell you my name." She said between gritted teeth. The thing came closer to the hollow at the base of her neck. "Why not? We'll be able to remind you if you... forget." "Go to hell." "Have it your way then."

Her mouth opened to scream with the shock, and pain, but suddenly her fur turned pure white, as did her outfit, and her eyes, they were now the palest shade of their previous colour. The mark on her hand had turned black. "Can you hear me?" Asked Darius, Six was shocked and horrified by what Darius had done, with so little prompting. Seven, who had not seen that done before, but was disturbed, asked what he had done. "He... he removed her soul."

Seven's next noise was one of horror and pity for the now soul-less hedgehog that stood in front of Darius.

***

"Come on! Toss it to me toss it to me!" Erica, the girl called. Shadi tossed her the ball, these children were great fun! Horus was catching all balls that tried to get in their basket. Rock was doing the same for Fred's team. "SLAMDUNKWOOHOO!" Yelled Erica as the ball went into Fred's basket. He did a little war dance. "I'll beat you! By Thunder I will!" "I'll beat you with Lightning on my side!" The two children were fascinated by Thunder and Lightning, two gods they had created themselves.

Thunder and Lightning supposedly only appeared (to mortal eyes that is) during storms because they were having arguments and thus couldn't take the time to conceal themselves or their battles. Thunder was a man, Lightning was an agile female.

"TOSS IT ROCK!" Yelled Fred, Rock tossed it and Skald caught it. The game they were playing was one the children had devised. _It would feel like a real game if there weren't collars on us. _Shadi thought bitterly. He didn't blame the children. He blamed himself. _I didn't move fast enough, my Dad taught me how to react to those kinds of situations and I didn't react! I just stood there like a stupid idiot! _While Shadi continued to mentally rant at himself (and catch and toss the ball when required), Eric declared that Fred's team had, fairly, won.

"LIGHTNING SHALL GET YOU NEXT TI....." Erica's sentence turned into a scream as a white thing hurtled into her. "ERICA!" Yelled Eric, pure fear on his face. Shadi darted forward, hand on his chest, _Please, give me the power to save her, she's innocent... _

But they are not.

_Huh? Who... who are you?!_

The voice in his head laughed softly.

I am stuck to your forehead, whether I like it or not. Your soul is full of innocence, I'd love to taste it, but I can't.

_Can we stick to the matter at hand?_

Of course. Let me take over, I'll save her and destroy her attacker.

**NO!!!!!! **

Another voice roared. White light exploded from Shadi's chest, he was getting taller again, but his fur wasn't turning red, it was turning white. Shadi tackled Erica's attacker to the ground and Timothy grabbed her, retreating to the sidelines. They watched in horrified fascination as the two white beings wrestled for dominance. Erica whimpered, "Shadi?" She had found out their names, then pretended to name them that.

"STOP FIGHTING!" Yelled Fred, unable to bear the screams or grunts of pain from the two fighters as they tore at each other. They fell still, all was silent except the wind whistling through the treetops, and a distant wind chime singing. Shadi went back to his normal form, he staggered back from his opponent and leaned against a tree. His opponent lay on the ground. Eyes vacant. "Is it..... dead?" Timothy turned in surprise to see Eric talking to him, "I don't know, I'll check, would you hold Erica?"

Eric took his trembling sister without a word. Timothy checked the pulse, then checked for breathing, "There... there isn't a pulse but, she's breathing." They heard a sharp intake of breath and looked at Skald. His eyes were wide. "What is it? Do you know something about this?" "Yes. She has no soul, I can bring it back though, give me a moment." But before anything could happen a GUN helicopter landed. "We are here to take this thing into custody. It shall be tried for attacking a helpless child and a pet..." Shadi moaned in pain.

Erica stood straight up and glared at the soldier. "Shut up!" He looked at her dangerously, "What did you say little girl?" "I said shut up! He isn't a pet! He just saved my life. And she is not just a mindless thing! Skald is going to call her soul back for her." The soldier raised his gun halfway then stopped, Shadi's voice rasped in his ear, "Pull that trigger on that little girl and I will slit your throat. Whether I die or not."

The soldier slowly lowered his gun and stepped into the plane. But before anyone could do anything more the other soldiers grabbed the white hedgehog and pulled her into the helicopter, lifting off before anything could be done to stop them. Sauna sent a blast of steam after them. Eric crouched down to Shadi's level. "Hey." Shadi looked at him, "Yes?" Eric looked awkward, "Thanks." He whispered.

Shadi realized that Eric loved his siblings as much as he loved his father. He nodded, "Your welcome." "I'll tell my Mom, we'll try to get something a little better for you. She'll probably want to hear your story first though." "Which one? The one about my life before I was caught or..." "What do you mean "before you were caught"? There aren't any free Mobians left besides Shadow and his kid Shadi." Shadi shook his head. "Not anymore." He pointed to the TV screen. The news reporter stood in front of Shadow's mansion, it was roped off with yellow tape.

"Earlier this morning, Shadow the Hedgehog disappeared. His son Shadi has still not been found." Shadi had that section of the feed on replay. He watched it blankly. There were some pictures showing what Shadow looked like in case the viewer didn't know what Shadi's father looked like. Shadi was staring at that screen, he hadn't hoped for rescue, he would have achieved it himself, but seeing his father had disappeared... he knew what had happened. GUN couldn't stop at only catching Shadi, they had to catch Shadow too.

"Crap." Shadi looked at Eric. "Oh, surprised that I don't like it? I know as well as you probably do that GUN and Kintabor are behind it." "Kintabor?" "Justin Kintabor. Charles Dantes." Shadi's head was buzzing with many confused thoughts. The President was a Kintabor? The Kintabors were a nice family, they weren't bloodthirsty and cruel like Charles Dantes! It couldn't be true... "I'll leave you now, oh yeah, Erica wanted me to give you this." Eric took something from his pocket and laid it on the bedside table. "Hope you're well soon." Said Eric before closing the door.

**Authoress: O_O Wow...... I had something along those lines planned out beforehand but...... wow.**

**Disclaimer: Good grief.**

**Authoress: MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

**Disclaimer: Now she says it. *munch munch***

**Authoress: What are you eating Disclaimer?**

**Disclaimer: One of the mandarin oranges from your stocking.**

**Authoress: WHY YOU! *grabs big heavy book***

**Disclaimer: Oh crap. *runs like a maniac while peeling an orange***


	6. Chapter 5

Shadi quietly sang to himself as he just watched the ceiling... he was waiting to meet Topaz. Someone his father said had been very good friends with his mother.

_"I was going to spell it out in full detail but_

_I dropped the call before I spilled my guts_

_But your floor stayed clean, like my conscience will be_

_'Cause if you heard anything, you didn't hear it from me_

_And I'm sweeping up the seconds that tick off the clock_

_And saving them for later when I'm too ticked to talk_

_And I need some time to search my mind_

_To locate the words that seem so hard to find_

_Sometimes I say things that_

_I wish I could take back_

_The most crucial thing I lack_

_Is a thing called tact_

_But if you're always so intently listening_

_Then the smartest thing to say is to tell myself not to say a thing_

_Yeah, I gotta keep quiet, quiet_

_Don't let it all come undone_

_Cause if I dare open my mouth_

_It'll just be to bite my tongue_

_To bite my tongue_

_It seems I'm always close-minded with an open mouth_

_And the worst of me seems to come right out_

_But I've never broken bones with a stone or a stick_

_But I'll conjure up a phrase that can cut to the quick_

_Sometimes I say things that_

_I wish I could take back_

_Then the smartest thing to say is to tell myself_

_To keep quiet, quiet_

_Don't let it all come undone_

_Cause if I dare open my mouth_

_It'll just be to bite my tongue_

_I gotta keep quiet, quiet_

_And listen to your voice_

_Because the power of your words_

_Can restore all that I've destroyed_

_And when I finally do_

_Let it come from you_

_The peace of understanding grips my soul_

_Cause you're the reason I've_

_Found meaning in this life_

_So I'll swallow up my pride and give you control_

_I give all to you_

_Yeah, I gotta keep quiet, quiet_

_Don't let it all come undone_

_Cause if I dare open my mouth_

_It'll just be to bite my tongue_

_I gotta keep quiet, quiet_

_And listen to your voice_

_Because the power of your words_

_Can repair all that I've destroyed_

_Yeah, I gotta keep quiet, quiet_

_Don't let it all come undone_

_Cause if I dare open my mouth_

_It'll just be to bite my tongue_

_To bite my tongue."_

"That's Bite my tongue by Relient K isn't it?" Shadi started, and he actually bit his tongue. "Oww...." he winced. A lady who couldn't have been more than sixty years old laughed. "Sorry to startle you like that." "No... it's okay miss." She frowned, "Don't call me that." "Uh...... why not?" "It makes me feel stiff and old." He laughed, "Alright. What DO I call you then?" "Topaz." She said smiling.

"Okay Topaz." "So... what is your story?" "Before I say that... uh... do you remember someone called Rouge? She liked jewels a lot. Dad said she was a friend of yours." "Rouge...?" Topaz looked like she was trying very hard to remember something. "No... I don't think I do. Though the name sounds familiar. Do you have a picture of her?"

"There was one at home, but I can draw pretty well. I'll re-draw it." Topaz handed him a pad of paper and a pencil. Within twenty minutes he finished. "There... that's the picture." Topaz gasped, "But that's Shadow! Are you saying that was his wife? No one knows who his wife was!" "My Dad and I did." "Who was your father?" Shadi wordlessly pointed to Shadow on the paper.

"Are you... are you sure?" Shadi nodded. "Then you must be Shadi... but you don't look like Shadi. Shadi has a white emerald on his forehead, not on his chest."

Yes, she can't figure out who you are, I need you to suffer longer for disobeying me.

Said the voice in his head.

Oh shut up. Shadi thought back furiously.

No. You can't make me.

LEAVE HIM ALONE! Roared the voice from where Shadi guessed was his chest.

You can't make me!

DO YOU WANT TO TRY ME?

Do your wo...

"Shadi? At least... I'll have to call you Shadi until I know." Shadi looked at Topaz, ignoring the two battling voices in his body. "You see this emerald?" He said slowly, pointing to his chest. "Yes." "In your mind's eye, take it away from my chest and put it on my forehead."

Topaz closed her eyes and did this, then she gasped, "You're right!" Suddenly a bolt of light came from the emerald on Shadi's chest and went straight through Topaz's forehead. Shadi cried out in alarm, "Are you alright Topaz? Topaz? Topaz!" She sat up slowly, shaking her head slowly, "Shadi.... why didn't I remember before?"

"Remember what?" Asked Shadi, confused. Topaz had tears in her eyes, "Before Rouge left to get Eggman.... she told me about you. I had been in a coma for awhile so I hadn't been there when you were born. She told me all about you. Just your name should have triggered total recall, either yours or hers."

"It's... it's not your fault." Said Shadi, who felt slightly awkward, comforting an adult. "I wish I could say it was. Let's go and you can introduce me to your friends. Oh... and this should come off." Topaz reached around Shadi's neck, under his quills, and unlocked the collar. It fell to the bed with no noise at all.

Topaz smiled. "Let's go. Eric will probably be worried. I know your story, or most of it. So explanations can wait until later." Shadi nodded. That was fine by him.

***

Shadow woke feeling very sore. Something cold was against his back, if it was GUN, it was most probably something he wouldn't like. "Can I shock him again? He still has to wake up." "Yeah... sure." A jolt of electricity went through him. It took all his willpower to not make any noise. "He still hasn't woken up!" Said the younger voice, sounding delighted. "Can I jolt him AGAIN?" Shadow opened his eyes, slowly, as if he was just waking up. He blinked a lot too... that always fooled humans.

"He's awake now, no." "Awww please?" "No... the Pres. doesn't want him damaged... too much." The young soldier cackled, "So what's happening with him after this?" Before the older soldier could reply one of the doors at the end of the room opened. "We got a girl this time, she looks just like the prisoner who escaped a couple of months ago." "Yeah and you're superstitious." Laughed the man who was on the white hedgehog's left side, her head hung down. "We've gotta get her to wake up, then to the happy room to get her to tell us who she is and who she's working for." "You'll never get that information."

The soldiers jumped, "WHO IS THIS?!" "Shadow." Said the young man cheerfully. The ones who had brought the white hedgehog in let her drop to the floor, her head hit the floor hard, blood now ran from a cut in her forehead, pooling on the floor. The soldiers didn't notice, and wouldn't have cared if they had noticed. They were too busy jeering at Shadow, tied to a chair with chains. "Who's more powerful now?" They asked, tauntingly. Shadow smirked, "It's still me. You can't change that fact. I'll still outlive any of you." This angered them, they attacked Shadow, the oldest man stood to the side, ready to intervene if they were going to go too far and hurt Shadow too much.

The pain was there, but Shadow was good at ignoring this kind of pain. It hurt worse when they hit his arm and leg though, where he'd been shot. They bruised him pretty badly, but he kept his vampire smile the whole time, his fang was visible. "All right, that's enough boys. Let's take him away, and it seems the female has woken up." It was true, she looked like she had, but her eyes were vacant, she just looked on. Then one of the men sniggered, "How about we hook her up to him? Seeing as he knows so much about her." They laughed, "Yeah... some good little pets could be made for us that way." Shadow ignored their comments, staring hard at the hedgehog, she reminded him of someone. His mind gave him quick flashes of all the people he had ever seen, fitting them to the hedgehog, no.... no.... no....... yes! He found a match. Pamilyn the Hedgehog. An Elemental who he'd met before.

But this couldn't be her, she was feisty, enjoyed insulting enemies, and was generally kind to everyone. But maybe.... "Damn Darius." He growled quietly. The men didn't hear him over their laughter, one of them hauled her up like a sack of potatoes. "Get moving." He ordered, she did, they kept on knocking her down and hurting her. Laughing cruelly all the way, but she would just pick herself up and continue. Shadow watched her, she certainly had no soul. There were certain things that could be said though that could call the soul back, but they differed with each individual, depending on their life. "Hmmmmm....." "Shut up and get moving!" Shadow fell, then, to everyone's surprise she stopped, turned, and helped Shadow up. "Lay a finger on Lord Shadow again and you will die." She said, her eyes emotionless. They all shivered, and because they were now unable to touch Shadow, they abused Pamilyn even more.

They were tossed into a cement sided pit. "Enjoy your stay!" Yelled the soldiers, "You'll be set to work tomorrow!" Shadow snarled and managed to launch a chaos spear at them before a grid came over the top of the pit that prevented his chaos powers from being put to use. He growled angrily. Meanwhile, Pamilyn stayed where she fell. Shadow crouched by her, "Pamilyn? Are you okay?" The white hedgehog's voice came to him, "Yes Lord." "Don't call me Lord." "But they said that you were to be called Lord Shadow, nothing else." "Who are 'they'?" "I do not know."

Shadow growled again, it was Darius. Damn him. "Sh... Shadow?" Shadow whirled, that voice was way to familiar... the black hedgehog's eyes widened. "Rouge?!" The white bat ran to him and hugged him, sobbing. From the shadows of the caves in the pit, came Knuckles, Sonic, the Chaotix, Tails, Cream and Vanilla, and many other individuals that Shadow didn't know. He didn't even care, Rouge was with him again. "Oh Shadow..." She whispered. "Is it really you?" "Yes Rouge. I'm here." He murmured softly, stroking her head, his eyes closed.

"I never thought I'd see you again. I thought I'd die here." She said quietly. "I thought you were already dead." "Why would you think that?" Asked Knuckles. Shadow told all about the time years ago when Charles Dantes, had taken over. "How could a Kintabor go so wrong?!" "I don't know." "Who's this?" "Pamilyn." Rouge looked shocked. "This is Pamilyn?!" "Yes." He said quietly. "What.. what happened to her?" Asked Espio. "Soul stolen." "The nerve of GUN..." "It wasn't GUN." "It wasn't?!" "No, it was that goddamned Darius." "Darius?" "Someone who works for me. I told him to never use that thing... obviously he didn't listen. I guess he thought I'd allow anything to get Shadi back." Rouge gasped, "Shadi! Is he here too Shadow?" "No... he isn't Rouge. GUN stole him from me not too long ago."

All the prisoners went to the largest cave and sat around to hear the story of his capture. All were sympathetic. Rouge was outraged. Jet and Wave kept quiet, but they were thinking very hard about something, and from the way they sat so close together, it was the same thing. "So... what happens around here?" "We're being made to build a palace for Dantes." "And once that's done, he's devised a chariot that only Mobians are able to pull. He's going to force the fastest of us to pull it. So you and I will definitely be in that cursed thing." Said Sonic. Shadow raised an eyebrow, "He expects us to consent to it without a fight?" "Well he thinks the work will break us." "No it won't." Said Shadow. "And then he makes all of us mate.... they need their pets to come from somewhere." Shadow's eye twitched, "They are going to try and get Pamilyn and I to do that, I heard them." Rouge was outraged, "How dare they?!" "It won't work, I will not, and Pamilyn will probably just look at me blankly. Darius has imprinted my name as "Lord" Shadow in her head."

***

"So she knew your Mom?" Said Skald, slightly in awe of Shadi." "Yeah..." He said. "This is really interesting..." Said Sauna, before resuming her milkshake race with Fred. They were seeing who could get to the bottom of a strawberry milkshake faster. Shadi laughed, "You look funny while you're doing that." Timothy smiled, "Who'd have thought that Dantes couldn't get rid of our right to order our own food at restraunts?" "Not me, that's for sure." Said Sauna, ordering a blueberry milkshake for another race with Fred, who had won the strawberry one.

Erica was playing with a small doll. Horus was playing with her. Skald sucked at his bubble tea, "God I love these things." He moaned in ecstasy. Shadi laughed, "Skald you look like you've found heaven." "Maybe I have." Said Skald reflectively, eating one of the "bubbles". Topaz and Eric came back to their table with some lunch. Burgers and fries and everything that was nice. The only damper on that day was when some lady remarked on what a nice set of pets Topaz had. Of course, Topaz had to reply like she was still brainwashed, and she did easily. "Are you sure you never took acting lessons?" Asked Sauna, Topaz had laughingly replied she never had.

"I don't believe you." Had been Sauna's grinning reply. "So Dantes has a soft spot for me..." Murmured Topaz to Eric. Eric nodded. Dantes had given him a job in GUN that paid handsomely, but hardly ever required him to be there. "I hope he doesn't propose to you though." "I hope he doesn't either." Said Topaz. Shadi looked at them curiously, "Would he?" "Yes. Shadi, we suspect that Dantes has Shadow locked up somewhere, and that somewhere is most likely where most of the "pet" population come from." "You mean they'd make him...?" "Yes. They'd do that." Shadi was horrified. "I wish I could be there to help him..." Said Shadi. "Maybe we can set that up..." Said Topaz. She pulled out a cell phone. "Hello?" They heard a smooth voice say, Shadi shuddered. It was way too smooth. "Please connect me to the President's line." "Who..." "Topaz." "One moment then please." Then came that hateful voice that belonged to the President. "Hello? I didn't expect you to call me Topaz." "Well sir..." "Please, call me Charles, none of the formality of citizen and President needs to exist between us." "Alright Charles." Shadi glared at the cell phone as if it was Dantes himself. And his hands twisted the air under the table as if it was Dantes' neck. "I have a few pets I'd like to put into that new project of yours, and I'd like to be able to see it." Dantes' delighted laughter came over the phone.

"Of course you may! Shall I pick you up?" "Sure." "Where from?" "How about my house?" "Alright Topaz." "See you." "See you then." She hung up, now she wore a completely disgusted look. "That man is way too oily." Sauna had to stifle her laughter, this made her lose the pineapple milkshake race. "I won!" Fred danced a jig on his chair. "We'd better get to my house quick, I suspect he was cruising around the city when I called. Who can tell when he'll reach my house?"

As it was, they reached the house ten minutes before him. They were able to put all the collars back on, and disguise the white emerald on Shadi's chest with dyes, otherwise Dantes would have known who he was immediately. They were lined up within the doorway, when Dantes came in, they would have to bow and not look up until he said, or until his shoes disappeared. Dantes did come in, and they saw his shoes stop in front of them to examine them. "Hmmm... you've been good to these pets haven't you Topaz?" "Yes Charles. I have. But I've been getting a lot of work out of them." Dantes laughed, "That's how it should be." Just then, Shadi noticed a slight white haze around Dantes' shoes... they had a heel on them. He grinned inwardly. Whatever was trapped in the white emerald certainly had a sense of humor.

Dantes' shoes disappeared and his heels landed with a thump on the floor, surprised, he lost his balance and fell backwards, crashing into a desk. When he stood, the shoes were back again. All of them (the "pets" that is) were shaking as if with horror at what they could hear had happened to their "ruler". In reality, they were trying very hard not to laugh. This was a story that would be passed around for a long time for sure. "So who are the slaves who you want to contribute?" Asked Dantes, trying to act as if nothing happened, the slightly changed tone in his voice reminded them though. "These two." Shadi felt his head raised, and saw that Timothy's head had been raised too.

Dantes examined them, Shadi put on a dull, subservient look. His acting would have pleased his father. Timothy put on a look of fear. Both worked. Dantes was pleased. "These two will do wonderfully." "I thought they would. I'm glad you like them Charles." Eric stood to attention, looking straight ahead, holding a salute. "At ease." The hand came down, the rigid body did not relax though. "At ease." Dantes voice had an underlying tone of menace. Eric relaxed fully. "Sorry sir, it's just the generals keep on telling me that we must stand to attention even if you say 'at ease'." He looked apologetic. That boy would be a lovely actor. Thought Shadi.

"Never mind them Eric. They have not enough brains between them to cut a piece of paper in half." Eric laughed dutifully. "Very funny sir!" "Please... call me Charles." Then he turned to Topaz, with a wide, happy smile on his face. Coulda fooled those generals eh Dantes? Shadi thought, hating the look he saw in Dantes eyes. "Shall we go?" Asked Dantes. Topaz put her hand on his arm and smiled, "Yes Charles." Then he turned and barked at Timothy and Shadi. "You two! Come on, into the back of the car." The back of the car was not much better than a trunk with a vent so they could breath. A good thing was that it was soundproof though. For the most part.

"What are we doing again?" Asked Timothy nervously, "We're getting into the "work force" or whatever it is Dantes was telling Topaz about before the lid closed, and we'll be trying to locate my dad." Timothy sighed, "I wish Horus was here. I miss him calling you "Mr. Angel" all the time." Shadi turned away, even though Timothy couldn't see him in the dark trunk. "Yeah... me too." Two tears fell from his muzzle, hitting the floor with the tiniest of tinkling noises.

**Ummmmmm..... errrrr....... I hope you enjoyed this!**

**Disclaimer: Oh great she's tongue tied. Call a professional un-tyer.**

**Disclaimer, you made a spelling error.**

**Disclaimer: SO WHAT?!**

**Oh dear..... you really are missing those oranges aren't you?**

**Disclaimer: Yes.**

**You are an orangeholic. Or whatever the title for someone addicted to oranges is called. R&R please!**


	7. Chapter 6

Shadi was leaning against one of the trunk walls when the lid opened. "Out of the trunk ya vermin." Shadi and Timothy climbed obediently out. "Follow the President and Lady Topaz now... don't be doing anythin' foolish."

They cowered as if afraid and scurried off, making the man grin in satisfaction. Shadi was also grinning... but secretly. What a fool...

***

Shadow rubbed his arm, "So... they thought that was work?"

"Shadow, it might not have been to you but it was to us. And if you don't pretend it was then you'll be given even bigger loads... and less food." Shadow shrugged.

"Fine."

"Someone's coming!"

"Hush!" They all quieted. Dantes appeared above them, Shadow issued a low growl. "Lady Topaz, you see bellow you, the pets who bring the next batch, as well as work on my secret project." Rouge gasped.

"It's Topaz!"

"Yeah... brainwashed like the rest of them." Muttered Shadow. "There are so many of them! What is this project?"

"You see my dear Topaz, I am having them build me a palace. And if you choose, you can be it's queen." Many of the slaves gaped, others hid their shock. This lady had once supported them... if she accepted, she would be part of the group that oppressed them. Topaz also seemed surprised. "Oh Charles! Would you let me think about this?"

"I know, the shock must be great, but I have loved you ever since I first saw you."

"Ugh, you can practically see the oil sliding from his mouth." Shadow murmured to Rouge, making her quietly giggle. It was too quiet for the two humans above to hear. "Guards?" Dantes clapped his hands. Two GUN soldiers appeared. "Would you "escort" the two new pets to their new companions?" Sniggering quietly, the guards did as they were told. Shadi and Timothy were tossed down forcefully. "And now Topaz dearest, I shall show you the progress. Of course, I shall bring you back every day to see it..." As the voices faded, Shadi stood and sniggered.

"What an idiot." Timothy burst out laughing.

"Did you see the ponch on him?"

"Yup, he looked a lot different a couple of years ago."

"Gained weight then?"

"Of course! You can't expect the President to WALK anywhere can you? Unless it's the buffet table." Said Shadi sarcastically. Timothy laughed even harder, tears rolling down his cheeks. The other prisoners looked at them in amazement, except Shadow, who was pushing forward, Rouge following him anxiously. "Who are you?" Shadi faltered as he looked at his Dad.

Timothy looked from father to son. "Is this your Dad Shadi?" Shadow froze, "Shadi?" Rouge leapt forward.

"Shadi!" Shadi blinked.

"Dad... who's this?"

"It's your mother."

"WHAT?!"

"Long story." Shadi nodded. Then he pulled Timothy forward.

"Mom, Dad, this is Timothy. He's uh...."

"Do you know Amy Rose?" Timothy interrupted. Shadow and Rouge nodded.

"Well... in the world I come from, she has an evil counterpart named Rose, kinda like Sonic has Scourge." Another nod. "And um.... well she... she raped you really, and I was born that way so I'm half phantom." Said Timothy. Rubbing the back of his head in shame. Rouge blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Rouge hugged him. "Wha...?"

"You can be part of our family."

"Rouge..."

"What?"

"If you haven't noticed, we are in a cement pit with no way out. It's nice we're reunited but we're still in danger's jaws so to speak."

"We won't be for long." Said Shadi brightly.

"Oh? Why?"

"I got hold of Darius Dad, when he saw me he was very pleased and was going on and on and on about how you'd reward him greatly... until I told him you'd be very ticked about the whole thing. So then he went all quiet and practically gave me the soul gun. If you're wondering how I did this I warped him into the trunk on the way."

"Trunk?"

"Yeah, Dantes put us in the trunk of his car."

"Why the...!"

"Dad please! We don't need you to say stuff like that!" Said Shadi quickly.

"Okay then, continue."

"'Kay. So I have the soul gun, all we have to do is stick it into Pamilyn's gut and pull the trigger. I already set it to reverse."

"Why her gut?"

"No idea. Darius said it was the easiest place for re-entry." This statement made Shadow suspect that there were a few other soul-less people wandering around Mobius... and he could guess who had made them that way....

"So how do we get out by giving Pamilyn her soul back?"

"Simple, we have to wait a few days until Topaz can get a full layout of the place."

"How will we know she has it?" Asked Knuckles. Shadi was now past being surprised. He answered easily.

"She'll send Skald and Sauna. Erica and Fred will be going with Eric to get Rock and the others if possible. Horus will stay with them."

"Who are Sauna and Skald?" Asked Jet. Shadi described them.

"So that's where they are..." Said Wave quietly. Sonic groaned.

"Oh please, don't tell me you two have kids! We don't need anymore Babylon Rogues!" Jet glared.

"We didn't do what you think we did." An old fox piped up.

"Yeah, he's right you know. They take some of each person's DNA. They have some kind of re-production machine. It only needs the DNA to create the child." Everyone who hadn't known this gasped. Horrified.

"Is that true?" Asked Shadi, shocked.

"As true as the fact that if you look at the sun too long you'll go blind." Said the fox.

"I'll give Pamilyn back her soul then... where is she?" Asked Shadi. Tails led him toward the cave.

***

"Are you sure you did it correctly?" "As correctly as I ever will." Said Shadi. At that precise moment... black spread across Pamilyn's white fur. They watched the colour re-appear, slowly at first, then faster, and faster... until she was completely covered. Then she gasped and sat bolt upright, coughing.

"Where is the *censored* who did that to me?!" Then she noticed them all staring at them. "Oh hi, you don't happen to know where that guy who thought he could lock me up is do you? I know there was a girl who wore too much damn perfume with him." Shadow laughed.

"That would be three."

"Three? What kind of a name is that?"

"It's a code name. Darius is the one who "locked you up" as you put it."

"Really? Where is he? I have his death warrant here. Signed by himself." Rouge laughed now.

"Pamilyn you take this stuff too seriously."

"Yeah, maybe I do, but he's still gotta pay."

"So what's the plan Shadi?"

"An escape plan I hope." Pamilyn cut in.

"Yes Pamilyn, an escape plan."

**Wow, that was one major fast update for me............................................................... especially seeing as I just wrote this whole chapter with no previous planning! **

**:D**

**Disclaimer: A sure sign you are going mad....**

**No, the signs I'd be going mad are if 1. I talk to myself 2. I argue with myself 3. I lose arguments with my....**

**Disclaimer: Oh shut up we get the freaking picture!**

**Shadi: Uh oh...**

**Timothy: He's in trouble now.**

**Shadi: Yup.**

**Disclaimer: Oh crap.**

**GET OVER HERE NOW!!!!!**

**Disclaimer: *sprints away as fast as he can***

**R&R please. ^^ And tell me if this way of writing is easier to read. ^^**


End file.
